


Your work and nothing more

by CherryDott



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: M/M, boxman has ANXIETY, soft and fluffy stuff, venomous has a tail because i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 02:43:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19190314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryDott/pseuds/CherryDott
Summary: I haven't written anything in like a whole year so uhh!! Enjoy lmao. Ven and Box are quietly working on individual projects in a shared lab late at night. NO PROOFREADING, WE DIE WITH VALOR





	Your work and nothing more

"Boxman… Boxman!"

A few fumbling curses and he dropped a small welding tool and came quite ungracefully crashing down from his wistful dream in the clouds. Venomous had caught him staring again. He would almost prefer his professor throwing cold water at him than- what? Professor Venomous. He shouldn't call him such a thing at the risk of everything that was their business relationship. Business. Not every now and then tapping his foot and neither making a deal of it, not side glances from a workbench they did not have to share. "Sorry for that," Boxman languidly muttered, head straight, eyes forward… slowly rolling to the side to their original fixation. Their elbows brushed, they certainly had no need to sit so close, it was a common, repeated, and gentle action that disturbed no one on the surface. Below it, who's to say? Business and nothing more.

It's hard not to notice when a glowing, robotic, half-lidded red eye is pointed your way. Ven sighed and elbowed Boxman's side, the villain nearly jumping out of his skin and shouting what could be the sixth "Sorry P.V.!" of the night. "You must be more careful. That's all I ask, you might hurt yourself. That thing is hot..." the professor chastised. He trailed off and stopped when he realized he could come off as treating him like a child, of course it's hot. You're no better than every villain that mistreats him if you think a robotic engineer doesn't know that a wire welder is hot.

Out of deafening silence besides the distant mechanical hum from the factory, Boxman rhythmically tapped sharpened claws on the worn-down table. "Oh, it's no bother. I've burned myself countless times with that thing, I can't remember when it used to bother me!" He said proudly, putting callused hands on display with a playful wiggle of his fingers. He chuckled to himself. It felt too good to make Professor Venomous of all people smile with amusement. It felt less good when that smile turned into a light laugh and a hand on his shoulder, Boxman's blood pumping hotter than any tool he's ever operated or injured himself with. He didn't hate the feeling itself, but hated the result, which was going to be Venomous pointing it out. That only made it worse, his body acting more nervous than he could control.

He set his hands back on the mechanical contraption he had busied himself with and slid it forward on the table. "I do think I'm finished for tonight," he said, coughing and turning his head away, adding softly, "have you eaten anything yet?" The professor flipped two switches on a silver microscope and it's light went out. "Don't believe I have, what do you have in mind?" He said expectantly, leaning back in his chair and letting his head lull back and to the side. He smiled wickedly when he noticed Boxman flushed to his neck as he stood up from his stool, hiding his face in any creative way he could think.

"Hey _Boxy_ ," Venomous slowly said, words dripping like honey. It was no use and Boxman turned his head. The professor's head cocked to the other side with his satisfied hum, a scaled tail following suit to swish back and forth like a methodic pendulum. "Why so tense?" He continued. The situation was all so satisfactory and enjoyable, he drank every second of it, almost forgetting every irrelevant detail, only the two of them in this room.

"What-what do you mean? Never felt more relaxed!" He tripped over his words as he said them, hardly checking their tone and volume that betrayed him harder than his own robotic son. He picked anxiously at his nails but couldn't avoid that focused gaze. Something flickered in the other villain's eyes, coupled with a lazy sigh both knew meant " _You're lying, try again_ " clear as day.

Boxman swallowed. He was caught here like a fly in a giant flytrap. "You're uh…" he attempted to begin again, ever so cautious in the words he chooses, Venomous looks pleased at the start. "Very distracting."

Venomous balances the amusing possibility of asking him to repeat himself, but he chuckles, hasn't he tortured the poor man enough? "I understand," he says. It's always the same and they've done this countless times. As Venomous laughs off his intimidating self, he sits up and rolls the chair closer to the shorter villain, nudging the stool under the table. He stops when they touch, and Boxman's chest hurts. Brain nearly short-circuiting in the process, he doesn't think about Venomous' head tilting to the side, getting closer. That's not nearly as bad as the fear he gets of falling on top of him, Boxman's hands taking a death grip on the armrests of the others dark purple chair when his tie is grabbed and he is jerked forward. It would pay off if he ever relaxed a day in his life around his partner.

The professor's left hand steadied his shoulder, deftly pulling him into a kiss. Boxman freezes there and waits. He sucks in a breath purely for the purpose of staying alive, and the nervous wreck he calls his body shudders as Venomous slides his hand gradually up his neck and cups his cheek sweetly. Boxman finally relaxes just a bit with a hypnotic thumb moving slowly on his cheek, unable to tell if this lasts seconds or hours. The very last thing he remembers from it is a faint smile against his lips, Venomous pulling away and standing.

"We could get some place to deliver here I bet, if you're hungry" Venomous says with his hand rested on the door frame. Boxman watches silently with wide eyes and hardly registers his own finger grazing his lip gently as he sees him leave.


End file.
